our boys

[grubbie]

Just some pics of our "boys" from feeding this morning. 2 polled herefords and "Chester The Molester",..our longhorn bull we use on heifers. Just sharing some pics but tear 'em up if you like, I can take it!

 

[bigbull338]

those are some goodlooking bulls.

 

[3waycross]

They look like the kind of bulls that get up and go to work every day, and that's a good thing!

 

[grubbie]

They look like the kind of bulls that get up and go to work every day, and that's a good thing!

Lets hope so, this spring will be the first batch of calves from all three, just got them last spring. The herefords went right to work but that longhorn was a sneaky bugger. Only caught him riding one heifer, but they all appear to be bred. Kind of a night prowler.

 

[SRBeef]

I like the looks of the Hereford bulls!

I don't know anything about Longhorns, but do you find it necessary/helpful to have a separate bull around just for the heifers? Won't a moderate BW Hereford bull cover the heifers too?

Are the cows all baldies?

 

[grubbie]

I like the looks of the Hereford bulls!

I don't know anything about Longhorns, but do you find it necessary/helpful to have a separate bull around just for the heifers? Won't a moderate BW Hereford bull cover the heifers too?

Are the cows all baldies?

Yes we could use a low BW hereford or angus. But, we can't afford ANY calving difficulty as we both work full time and there is no one else to watch or help. They have to do it on their own for the most part. In the past, if a heifer has trouble, and we are working, we lose the heifer as well as the calf. So not only for the cost factor, also the humane factor, we use a longhorn bull. The calves come out real small and hit the ground running. Never had to pull a calf since, and the calves don't seem to take a price cut here as folks say they do in other areas. They have been weaning at nearly the same weight as the other calves. Most importantly to us, though, is that we have a live calf and live cow in the end. If we were full time ranchers, we would certainly use different heifer bulls.
The cows are all hereford/angus mix. Some baldies, some all red, some all black, but all are hereford angus cross. One exception is a half longhorn heifer that we kept just because she is cool lookin'. No horns, but has the skunk stripe down her back. She's a big girl too, we'll see how she does. She is bred to that longhorn in the pic, can't wait to see what that critter looks like.

 

[cypressfarms]

Yes we could use a low BW hereford or angus. But, we can't afford ANY calving difficulty as we both work full time and there is no one else to watch or help. They have to do it on their own for the most part. In the past, if a heifer has trouble, and we are working, we lose the heifer as well as the calf. So not only for the cost factor, also the humane factor, we use a longhorn bull. The calves come out real small and hit the ground running. Never had to pull a calf since, and the calves don't seem to take a price cut here as folks say they do in other areas. They have been weaning at nearly the same weight as the other calves. Most importantly to us, though, is that we have a live calf and live cow in the end.

This is called good management! Matching what your cows do to the time you have available. Really good example of why I use low birthweight bulls on all of my cows. It's just so much easier to not have to worry about calving trouble.

 

[Jogeephus]

I like your hereford bull. Are you using an unroller? If so, how do you like it?

 

[grannysoo]

Good looking cattle. :nod:

 

[skyline]

Yes we could use a low BW hereford or angus. But, we can't afford ANY calving difficulty as we both work full time and there is no one else to watch or help. They have to do it on their own for the most part. In the past, if a heifer has trouble, and we are working, we lose the heifer as well as the calf. So not only for the cost factor, also the humane factor, we use a longhorn bull. The calves come out real small and hit the ground running. Never had to pull a calf since, and the calves don't seem to take a price cut here as folks say they do in other areas. They have been weaning at nearly the same weight as the other calves. Most importantly to us, though, is that we have a live calf and live cow in the end.

This is called good management! Matching what your cows do to the time you have available. Really good example of why I use low birthweight bulls on all of my cows. It's just so much easier to not have to worry about calving trouble.

I agree. Us part timers have to consider our available resources (including limited time) and match our programs to our resources. Good job!

 

[grubbie]

I like your hereford bull. Are you using an unroller? If so, how do you like it?

Yeah Im using an unroller.......I was using one that I made, but this year we got a hydraulic unit. Couldn't put out the money for a hydra-bed type, but found a used model that bolts onto a flatbed that is electric over hydraulic. As far as unrollers go, the only thing is that most of the bales unroll a row as wide as the bale. This allows the cows to walk on too much hay in my opinion, so I get out a pitchfork and split it into smaller width windrows so they waste less. You can probably see how wide it unrolls in the pics and see them standing on it. I am pretty sure with the electric/hydraulic, I am going to have to upgrade my alternator though.